Aging oak

[Touch0Gray]

So I keep hearing that oak needs to be cured for 2 years. I am losing ALL my red oak to oak wilt, and never cut a live tree, as a matter of fact, essentially, all of the oak is knocked down after all the bark falls off. Do you think I still need 2 years on it? Oh, it is always under roof in my wood shed, open on all 4 sides. I have been waiting a year and it seems to burn plenty hot and clean and am not seeing any water or sap boiling out ever.

 

[Dmitry]

So I keep hearing that oak needs to be cured for 2 years. I am losing ALL my red oak to oak wilt, and never cut a live tree, as a matter of fact, essentially, all of the oak is knocked down after all the bark falls off. Do you think I still need 2 years on it? Oh, it is always under roof in my wood shed, open on all 4 sides. I have been waiting a year and it seems to burn plenty hot and clean and am not seeing any water or sap boiling out ever.

Just get the moister meter and you'll get an answer

 

[Woody Stover]

So I keep hearing that oak needs to be cured for 2 years...Do you think I still need 2 years on it? Oh, it is always under roof in my wood shed, open on all 4 sides. I have been waiting a year and it seems to burn plenty hot and clean and am not seeing any water or sap boiling out ever.

I see everything in your sig except your stove. Could make a difference in how wet your wood can be, and still burn OK.
I need at least two years on Oak here, three is better, in my cat stove. But I don't have a shed, just mats, and recently I got some metal roofing. My stacks are in the woods, where it tends to be damper and less windy.
What kind of wood did you wait a year on, and it burned fine?
Here, I've had Red Oak that stood dead for five or more years, bark was falling off, yet the wood in the trunk was still in the upper 30s moisture content.

 

[Touch0Gray]

I see everything in your sig except your stove. Could make a difference in how wet your wood can be, and still burn OK.
I need at least two years on Oak here, three is better, in my cat stove. But I don't have a shed, just mats, and recently I got some metal roofing. My stacks are in the woods, where it tends to be damper and less windy.
What kind of wood did you wait a year on, and it burned fine?
Here, I've had Red Oak that stood dead for five or more years, bark was falling off, yet the wood in the trunk was still in the upper 30s moisture content.

I have a 33 year old, Majestic, double doors, fire brick lined, no cat, with a 6 x 12 tile lined massonry chimney running up inside the house , about 40 feet to the top. with a huge wood box. I try to keep the top of the stove above 500 degrees and regularly get it WAY over that, (say 800, even 900). I have been using it steadily since 1987
There is no real way to measure the flue temperature since it is burried pretty deep in fieldstone.

Some of the oak I cut has a lot more water in it (as well as other trees), depending on where it was on my property, My property is high and dry, with about 6 feet of topsoil, a few feet of clay then 120 feet of sand and gravel (glacial till). I do know that there are some wetter spots where springs get closer to the surface, the wood always seems wetter there, I suppose capillary action draws the water into the wood. All that said, I never cut a live tree specifically for fuel and live trees are aged much longer.

My house situated in the woods, but have about a 1/3 of an acre clearing around it. My shed has a concrete floor and the wood is raised up off the concrete by 2 x 4's on edge

Just get the moister meter and you'll get an answer

I have a moisture meter, which I recently purchased. Some of the pieces I have in the house now are at 7% to 9% it has been inside for a day or so, the outside temperature is 10 degrees so I can't effectively measure a piece from the shed can i? I assumed that it needed to be above say 60 degrees.

 

[MissMac]

Some of the pieces I have in the house now are at 7% to 9% it has been inside for a day or so

I don't know about this - how are you measuring the MC? Bring some splits inside, let them warm up for atleast 24 hours, then put a fresh split in it and measure this fresh face with your moisture meter. 7-9%MC after being inside for one day doesn't sound right at all, IMO

 

[Touch0Gray]

I don't know about this - how are you measuring the MC? Bring some splits inside, let them warm up for atleast 24 hours, then put a fresh split in it and measure this fresh face with your moisture meter. 7-9%MC after being inside for one day doesn't sound right at all, IMO

In the house for a day but they were in the woodshed for a year, maybe 15 months. For reference, the humidity in the room with the stove (and wood racks) is about 20%

 

[weatherguy]

You get a more accurate reading when the wood is room temp, also you want to test the middle of the split so once its warmed up, split it and test the middle of the split.

 

[MissMac]

In the house for a day but they were in the woodshed for a year, maybe 15 months. For reference, the humidity in the room with the stove (and wood racks) is about 20%

I still dont' think your wood is that dry. Test MC on a fresh split face at room temp.

My house is 25% RH and I have wood sitting here for days that isn't that dry. I think you're not getting an accurate MC reading. If you're testing on a fresh split, have you tried calibrating your moisture metre?

 

[Gearhead660]

So I keep hearing that oak needs to be cured for 2 years. I am losing ALL my red oak to oak wilt, and never cut a live tree, as a matter of fact, essentially, all of the oak is knocked down after all the bark falls off. Do you think I still need 2 years on it? Oh, it is always under roof in my wood shed, open on all 4 sides. I have been waiting a year and it seems to burn plenty hot and clean and am not seeing any water or sap boiling out ever.

I have a bunch of dead standing oak also. No bark, been dead for quite a few years. I cut some down this winter and they went right in the stove. Burned great. How long have yours been dead?

 

[hickoryhoarder]

If it kindles easily and no water hisses out of the ends as it starts to catch, it's good. I haven't had any dead oak, but dead maple and tulip poplar limbs go right in the stove.

 

[Touch0Gray]

I still dont' think your wood is that dry. Test MC on a fresh split face at room temp.

My house is 25% RH and I have wood sitting here for days that isn't that dry. I think you're not getting an accurate MC reading. If you're testing on a fresh split, have you tried calibrating your moisture metre?

My meter doesn't appear to be calibrate-able. I could retest with my digital multi- meter, but I am pretty confident that it's pretty close.

New split yesterday at about noon.... In the house, tested moisture at 7:00 am this morning.

Tested 4 different pieces, all under 14%.

I have always (since 1987 on this stove) noted that other than fully cured wood, leaves a lot of residue on the windows on the doors in the morning, I didn't even build a real big fire last night and they were clean this morning, just a light dusting of powdery ash which dusts right off.

 

[Touch0Gray]

I have a bunch of dead standing oak also. No bark, been dead for quite a few years. I cut some down this winter and they went right in the stove. Burned great. How long have yours been dead?

Hard to say, in a fairly thick wood lot, if a tree dies, It may not be noticed until the bark starts to fall off. After that, it may be a year before I can get to the tree. Sometimes, they actually go down before I get to butcher them.

 

[TradEddie]

My hypothesis is that the fungi that are rotting the sapwood are also beginning to disintegrate the heartwood too, not enough to be visible, but enough to make it more porous and quicker to dry, not just that standing dead is starting with a lower m.c. I was disappointed last March to measure 35%m.c. on two year standing dead oak, but I've been burning some of those splits with only 11 months CSS, without any issues, while splits from a live tree felled at the same time are too heavy to even think about burning.

TE

 

[Touch0Gray]

My hypothesis is that the fungi that are rotting the sapwood are also beginning to disintegrate the heartwood too, not enough to be visible, but enough to make it more porous and quicker to dry, not just that standing dead is starting with a lower m.c. I was disappointed last March to measure 35%m.c. on two year standing dead oak, but I've been burning some of those splits with only 11 months CSS, without any issues, while splits from a live tree felled at the same time are too heavy to even think about burning.

TE

I'll buy into that one. Like I said I have no idea how long they were standing dead but the apparent decay under the bark makes me suspect that it is a couple of years at least. Maybe more. Like I said before, it depends where they were, on wet or dry ground.